June 2025 Contents

Inside Florida Trend's print and digital issue

FEATURES

Higher Education

Campus Housing Crunch

Affordability Crisis
Campus Housing Crunch

The state’s affordable housing crisis is spurring increased demand for on-campus housing. Some schools are building more to help bridge the gap.

Building boom

In response, Florida universities are putting on their hard hats and launching ambitious and expensive building plans to dramatically increase the number of student beds on campus.

Workforce Engines
Workforce Wizards

With tight budgets and little fanfare, Florida’s state colleges are proving they can adapt fast, meet labor market needs and graduate job-ready students.

Degree of efficiency

Florida’s state colleges are winning acclaim for cranking out career-ready graduates at scale, but higher-ed experts worry their success could falter without more funding.

Vanderbilt’s West Palm push

The ‘Southern Ivy’ is planning its first satellite campus outside of Nashville, if it can raise enough money.

Higher Ed’s new hires

More than a dozen new presidents have taken the reins of Florida’s colleges and universities since 2023.

Quick study

A CliffsNotes guide to Florida’s other new presidential leaders.

The search is on

This legislative session, lawmakers proposed bills to make universities’ presidential searches more transparent by repealing a law shielding candidates from public records requests.

Insurance
Risky business

A dozen new home insurers — some with a cooperative twist — have entered Florida’s property insurance market.

Leadership Insights

Custom Content
Energy Company & Utility Executives

Nothing happens without electricity. It's a fact that creates particular challenges for businesses in Florida, where hurricanes can wreak havoc on entire regions.

Trendlines

Up Front
Not just a nip and tuck

Every now and then we all need a little sprucing up, and Florida Trend was no exception.

Icon
Dr. J. Glenn Morris Jr.

"My parents were missionaries, and they took me to Bangkok ... While I was there, the seventh pandemic of cholera started and for several years, when I was 9, 10 and 11, it swept through Bangkok."

Editor's Page
Cracking the code

For many, reading is as easy as breathing, and we take it for granted.

NextGen

Growing a Fortune

Growing a Fortune

Six years ago, an Orlando trio began selling houseplants from their mobile pop-up shop. Now they rake in millions shipping plants direct to customers’ doorsteps.

Economic Backbone

Architecture & Engineering
The Conductors

How running an award-winning architectural firm is like leading an orchestra.

Built with honor

The University of South Florida’s colorchanging honors college has supported academic excellence since 2023.

‘A fancy IKEA package’

Plans to upgrade the cabins at Walt Disney World’s Fort Wilderness Resort required some creative thinking.

Artistic vision

The 52 World apartment complex features world-class artwork intended to spark conversations.

Historic hotel

Once condemned and vacant, Jacksonville’s Ambassador Hotel is getting an upscale facelift.

Upgrading the boulevard

Downtown Fort Lauderdale’s run-down gateway from I-95 will be getting an attractive new look.

Around the State

Statewide
Full cup

This month, Miami and Orlando will become centers of the international soccer world. And the world’s greatest player, Lionel Messi, will be front and center.

Miami-Dade
A ‘mosaic of dining’

A “restaurant renaissance” is taking place on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road.

Southeast
Curtains up

The Town of Palm Beach certainly has the wealth to support live theater, but the show has not gone on since the Royal Poinciana Playhouse closed in 2004.

Southwest
Sports saga

After months of back and forth, the once celebrated deal to build a new $1.3-billion stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays near downtown St. Petersburg is dead.

Central
Worth it

Orlando-based startup Worth AI has secured a $25-million investment to expand its AI-powered fintech platform.

Northeast
Innovator: Dr. Michael S. Okun

Okun arrived at UF from Atlanta’s Emory University in 2002 and co-founded UF’s movement disorders program.

Northwest
Hotels by the park

Downtown Pensacola’s waterfront Community Maritime Park is attracting major investment.